New marina power pedestal problem

[cardude01]

Or maybe it’s a boat problem?

Moved the boat from Pensacola to the New Orleans Municipal Marina over last couple of days.

When I tried to plug in last night the ProSafe1 monitor on the ProMariner galvanic isolator thingy gave me a ground fault. I never had this problem at the old marina using the same power cords and splitter.

I talked to a guy down the road at a local marine parts and service place and he said he had a boat there and had loads of problems with the power pedestals there, for what that’s worth. This is a relatively new marina that was rebuilt after Katrina, but the marina in Pensacola was also pretty new, rebuilt after Michael. I don’t get the impression this marina staff is really on top of the situation here because when I talked to the main guy he said they had some problems with some pedestals and one of the two 50amp sockets on my pedestal doesn’t work. Talked to a dock neighbor and he said one side of his pedestal doesn’t work.

I don’t understand this ProMariner system. Is it unsafe to be on the boat and running AC electrical with that ground light on? My AC system and other AC systems still seem to work fine.

 

[NWSeadog]

Assuming that your boat / cable was working at your previous marina, it looks like the (safety) ground is ether not connected, or improperly connected at the service pedestal.

 

[cardude01]

Assuming that your boat / cable was working at your previous marina, it looks like the (safety) ground is ether not connected, or improperly connected at the service pedestal.

Thanks for the reply.

So how dangerous is that for me on the boat? I explained the situation to the marina manager and called the electrician they use and told him about the problem. But the electrician said it will be a few days before he can come and I’m supposed to head back to Texas soon. The electrician also said it sounded like an open ground at the pedestal.

One thing that seemed strange was the 50 amp connector on the pedestal was very hard to connect my splitter to. Like very hard to push in and hard to turn to lock. I thought my splitter might be the culprit so went out and bought a brand new one and it’s also super hard to connect. Is that a clue?

 

[NWSeadog]

If it was me I would not worry about it but YMMV. The safety ground should not have any current flowing in it, unless there is a short (failure) between the incoming hot and a piece of metal (ground) in the boat / cable.

I doubt that the problem is due to a tight connector. I'd be more concerned about a loose connector causing an open ground.

Just an FYI though regarding safety, I've been known to go out on deck without a life jacket on.

 

[twistedtree]

You mention a splitter. Can you tell us more about how your electrical system is set up? I'm guessing your splitter creates two 30A 120V branches. Do you connect both of those to your boat through separate 30A shore cords? Or does your boat only use one of them? And is the galvanic isolator only on one branch, or are there two isolators, once for each branch?

 

[cardude01]

You mention a splitter. Can you tell us more about how your electrical system is set up? I'm guessing your splitter creates two 30A 120V branches. Do you connect both of those to your boat through separate 30A shore cords? Or does your boat only use one of them? And is the galvanic isolator only on one branch, or are there two isolators, once for each branch?

Whoops sorry, yes the splitter is a 50 amp to two 30 amp 120v. I connect to the boat using two 30amp shore cords. I only have one isolator monitor panel, so maybe just one isolator?

I thought maybe my splitter was bad because it’s really old, so I bought another one, but still have the same problem.

 

[twistedtree]

Whoops sorry, yes the splitter is a 50 amp to two 30 amp 120v. I connect to the boat using two 30amp shore cords. I only have one isolator monitor panel, so maybe just one isolator?

I thought maybe my splitter was bad because it’s really old, so I bought another one, but still have the same problem.

Thanks. In the end I'm not sure it makes a difference, but it's good to have the whole picture.


As others have surmised the first thing to check is the ground connection in the pedestal, but I understand that's not likely to happen in your required time frame.


The only other thing I could suggest would be to try one or more other 50A outlets to see if you get the same results, especially since there have been reports of possible outlet issues on the dock.


I'm also curious how the shore ground connection is handled on your boat for the other 30A circuit. If there is no isolator then that shore connection must either have it's ground not connected, or permanently connected. And I wonder if this might be part of what's tricking the isolator? I just don't know enough about how the isolator fault detection circuit works so say with any certainty. But you might try disconnecting the 30A inlet that doesn't use the isolator and see if it makes a difference.

 

[rgano]

I think you should contact ProMariner to discuss the obslescence of the ProSafe One Monitoring system. I did, and now have a different GI aboard as a result. In addition to the possible failure of the GI in an unsafe mode there was also the issue of premature tripping of shore pedestal GFIs by this unit.

 

[cardude01]

Thanks. In the end I'm not sure it makes a difference, but it's good to have the whole picture.


As others have surmised the first thing to check is the ground connection in the pedestal, but I understand that's not likely to happen in your required time frame.


The only other thing I could suggest would be to try one or more other 50A outlets to see if you get the same results, especially since there have been reports of possible outlet issues on the dock.


I'm also curious how the shore ground connection is handled on your boat for the other 30A circuit. If there is no isolator then that shore connection must either have it's ground not connected, or permanently connected. And I wonder if this might be part of what's tricking the isolator? I just don't know enough about how the isolator fault detection circuit works so say with any certainty. But you might try disconnecting the 30A inlet that doesn't use the isolator and see if it makes a difference.

I will try one cord on each 30 amp connection on the boat to see if that changes anything. Guess I also need to look into how this isolator thing is wired, if I can find it. The electrician is supposed to look into that for me in a few days, allegedly. Hope he is knowledgeable. I’m not.

 

[cardude01]

Is this a bad omen? ?

 

[HTurner]

Is this a bad omen? ?

I would say yes...